PO Box 55446
St. Petersburg, Fl. 33732-5446

May 1, 2009

Re-Enlistments:   SGM Nicholas Poulos, Wayne Mueller, MSG Norman
Osbourne, Edward Longo, C. E. Lemonds, Lawrence
Gloe, Colonel Joffre Boston, Gary Imler, Norman
Briggs, Dean Newton. Donald Jacobsen, Paul
Quello, James Sim, Fred Wood
Donations:        SGM Nicholas Poulos, Wayne Mueller, MSG Norman Osbourne,
Edward Longo, Lawrence Gloe, Gary Imler, Norman Briggs,
Donald Jacobsen, James Sim, Fred Wood

New Members:      None

Change of Address:   Mrs. Helen Sherlock
15 Pine Bough Ln.
Eureka, Mo. 63025-2165

Deceased:       Donald Keith Walden died October 30th, 2008 in
Effingham, Illinois.  He joined the Army on
April 6, 1953 and was discharged on March 31,
1955. He was a light truck driver with HHC/1/6,
Berlin. Timothy A. Murphy died January 21, 2008.
Keith Lambertsen died October 22, 2008.
Introduction:

Several members have Emailed me and want their Emails available for other members.  As of now the list is:
Name                       EMail Address               Era
========================   ==========================  ==============

Jan Milles	janmilles@hotmail.com	‘Nam and Berlin
Charles Farrell	cturkfarrell@aol.com	Berlin ‘68-69
William Zirkel	ziirkel@earthlink.net	Berlin ‘57-59
James Porter	ms8x60s@yahoo.com	Vietnam ‘68-69
Gary Kirsten	garykirsten@snet.net	Berlin ‘53-55
Jim Frye	JFrye13@tampabay.rr.com
CSM Stanley Thornburgh	Stanley39us@yahoo.com	Berlin
Charles McDonald	cmcd5052@sbcglobal.net	Berlin ‘67-69
CSM Mike Foreman	mandbforeman@aol.com
Thomas Lynn	lynn9493@bellsouth.net
Don Wilson	donniew32@verizon.net	Berlin ‘53-55
James Sim	Simj@Comcast.net	Berlin ‘62-63

Member Don Wilson served in Berlin in D Company, 6th Infantry from 1953 to February, 1955.  He is looking for anyone else who may have served in that time frame.  His Email address is above.  Member Gary Kirsten looks like a possibility.  His Email is above.
The VA has created a website to help recently returned Operation En-during Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom vets.  The site lists health-care services available for vets through the VA, key phone numbers to call for more information, links to other VA sites and information on family support services.  The site is www.oefoif.va.gov.
Page 14 of the Army Times of March 16 is a must-see for anyone currently in the Army and contemplating using the GI Bill..

The Berlin Airlift, Part I

We who served in Berlin are aware of what we helped accomplish in the Cold War.  Few of us were aware of it at the time.  One who was aware of the dangers of the Cold War was 1SG Russell Bruneau of A/2/6.  It is possible that 1LT Juoni Keravouri was also aware of it, but he might have learned of it from 1SG Bruneau.  This story is dedicated to 1SG Bruneau and 1LT Keravouri.
The blockade did not start till the summer of 1948, but the harassment that led to it began on the night of January 28, 1948.  It was on that night that the Russians stopped at Marienborn a British military train going from West Berlin to the British Zone of West Germany.  The train was stopped due to “technical difficulties” along the rails.  Eleven hours later the train was allowed to proceed with British military, but 120 Germans were returned to Berlin when the Russians were not per-mitted to inspect the papers of the Germans and question them.  Thus began an era of harassment that lasted more than two decades.
On March 20, 1948, the Russians walked out of the meeting of the Allied Kommandantura.  On April 1, 1948, two Berlin bound U. S. trains, one from Bremerhaven and one from Frankfurt, and a British passenger train in route to Berlin and one in route from Berlin to the British Zone  were stopped at Marienborn, five miles inside the Soviet Zone of Germany and sent back to Helmstedt.  On the evening of March 31 the Russians announced they had the right to inspect all military trains.  An earlier train from Bremerhaven was allowed to pass after the Russians were allowed to board the train to inspect the travel documents.  The immediate response was to increase the number of guards on the trains from 15 to 30 and they were armed with tommy guns and carbines.  On April 2, the Russians cut off the inland waterways citing “invalid bills of lading.”  On April 3, rail connections from Hamburg and Munich were closed citing “bridge repairs” and “traffic congestion.”  This disruption of traffic caused a shortage of supplies for the Allies in Berlin.  General Clay used 24 planes at Rhein-Main Air Base in Frankfurt and flew in 200 tons of supplies between April 2 and April 4.  The harassment ended and the first airlift was no longer needed.  What was impressive about this first response to a blockade was the immediate action of General Clay.  There was no lengthy debate among the Allies.  He simply found the planes in Frankfurt and brought in the supplies.
The end of this crisis was met by a new one.  On April 5 a Russian YAK fighter collided with a British Vickers Viking transport approaching Gatow Airfield with the loss of life of the Soviet pilot, 12 English-men and 2 Americans.  Harassment on the rails, canals and roads continued sporadically through June 15.
The Allies, although they had been anticipating a blockade, had not made any plans for such an event.  Part of the problem was how to re-spond to the Russians over the incident at Gatow on April 5.  On April 7, the Russians claimed that the British transport, while approaching Gatow, was in East German air space and, as it came out of a cloud, it collided with a Soviet plane that was on approach to Dallgow Airport in East Germany.  The Russians were to claim that their plane already had its landing gear down when struck from the rear.  The Russians were to further claim that the British had not notified them that the trans-port was in route.  Since their path would take them over the East Ger-man airport, it might show that the British were at fault.  By April 13, a joint British-Russian investigation was scrapped as the Russians wanted to bar American and German witnesses to the accident.  The British investigation showed that the Soviet plane wAs doing acrobatics and had struck the British transport.  The report went on to say that the Russian plane was in the air without the knowledge of the Russian authorities.
The one person to stay focused on the subject at hand was General Clay.  As early as April 10, he wired Washington that they needed to stay in Berlin or face the prospect of a domino effect in western Europe.
With the mini-blockade a thing of the past, General Sir Brian Robertson, the British Military Governor, addressed the German North Rhine-Westphalian Parliament in Düsseldorf on April 7.  With the block-ade just over the horizon, some of his comments are worth remembering.  He stated that “for the time being we must accept the fact that the Iron Curtain splits Germany.  For the time being we must be content with unity as far as it can be achieved and not forget that this means the unity of two-thirds of Germany.  The complete unity of Germany is only possible when the real will of all the people can be freely ex-pressed.”
General Sir Robertson further stated that “Germany’s salvation is in your hands to win or cast away.  Only have the courage and you will win it.  Come forward determined to make the best of the largest part of your country which is on the right side of the Iron Curtain.  The rest will come with time.”
On April 19, a British convoy of 3 trucks going from West Berlin to the British Zone was turned back at Marienborn.  The British viewed it more as an annoyance than harassment.  The Russians could have turned them back at Babelsburg on the border with Berlin rather than 110 miles away at Marienborn on the border with West Germany.
On April 22, the Russians ended a rail link between Berlin and the outside world.  They cited the fact that there was no agreement on running trains through the Soviet Zone.  The train ran from Berlin to Ornasbruck and from there connected with Paris.  This incident was seen as a Soviet attempt to isolate Berlin.  In retaliation, on May 21 the United States closed the border of Berlin to Russians traveling from the Soviet Zone to Frankfurt on the Oder, in the Soviet Zone on the border with Poland.  On June 11, Britain placed curbs on inter-national travel in response to the Russians.
The following day the Russians announced they would try to impose new restrictions on western air traffic.  This was viewed somewhat seriously as the Russians were thought to have 1,200 fighter planes in Germany .  U. S. pilots were told to obey the Russians if they were being forced to land in East Germany.  On April 24, General Clay said the United States would ignore any new curbs and would abide by the rules previously agreed to among the four powers.  With the situation starting to get tense, KLM Airlines announced that they were considering dropping their flights into Berlin.  On the same day, General Clay made his announcement that the Russians held up some British barges and said they were “plundering” the Soviet Zone.
In the first week of May, it was reported that there had been Soviet incursions into Hesse and that the Russians had arrested some people.  It was also reported that Czech soldiers had fired on some people in Bavaria.  What the Russians may have viewed as harassment to get the Allies to leave Berlin, the western Allies viewed as the early signs of war.
On May 28, Major General Alexander Kotikov, the Soviet representative to the Kommandantura, said he considered all of Berlin to be a part of the Soviet Zone.  His comments were not warmly received by Colonel Howley at the Kommandantura.
In May, the Russians, through the People’s Congress in Berlin, had launched a drive for an “all German” constitution...  Their aim was a united Germany with Berlin as the capital.  The Socialist Unity Party was able to get fifteen million signatures in East Germany.  On paper, the constitution does not sound bad, but this was three years after the fall of the Third Reich and the Soviet goal was the domination of all of Germany.
The drive of the People’s Congress coincided with the London Conference attended by Britain, the United States, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.  By June, the London Conference had adapted a platform that called for a Federal government in Germany with a measure of home rule for West Germany, but continued occupation by the Allies and pledges to prevent Germany from rearming.
On June 9th, the Russians turned up the heat in Berlin.  They closed the zonal border at Lunenburg, delayed traffic at Helmstedt and blockaded barge traffic.  On June 12, there was a 22 hour rail delay due to “improper labeling.”  On June 15, they halted 140 coal cars at Marienborn, closed interzonal travel at three points due to “light traffic” and delayed ferry service across the Elbe near Magdeburg.  They also decreed that all Germans traveling through the Soviet Zone had to buy tickets at the Friedrichstrasse Station in the Soviet Sector.  Thus the Russians would control all German traffic through their zone.
On June 20, 1948, the Soviets started a boycott of the Kommandantura.  They would quit the boycott on July 1.  On August 16, the three Allies started to explore the possibility of a three nation Kommandantura.  Prior to french being given two districts of West Berlin by the British, the initial plans for the Kommandantura called for a three nation representation.  The cause of the rift was the currency reforms announced on June 18.  At about the same time the Russians began a plan of harassment along the roads, rails and canals to and from West Berlin.  Since these entry points were basically in East Germany, the Russians usually would block a road with a sign, “closed for repairs.”  On June 21, the rail system was cut due to “technical difficulties.”  And thus began the blockade.  On the same day, the United States had started to supply their garrison in Berlin by plane.

End of Part I

I have diabetes and have no idea how much longer I have, but I want to get one thing down on paper while it is fresh in my mind.  I volunteer three days a week at the local VA Hospital.  Aside for one woman, everyone with whom I work is of the World War II era.  Someone is going to have to replace them at some point in the near future.  When you reach retirement, please give some thought to volunteering either at your local VA or at a neighborhood hospital.  I’ve been doing it for over 5,100 hours now and find it very enjoyable.
Osama bin Laden’s top deputy in al-Qaida, Ayman al-Zawahiri, has released a new tape in which he threatens the United States and vows revenge for the deaths of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.  Now how come this crazy threatens the U. S. of A. and not Israel?  Simple, Israel will blow his entire house out of existence, while we would just have a news conference saying he was a bad man.  Maybe he’s not so crazy after all.

CSM Mike Foreman sent me the following Email:

And the one inaugural ball that President Obama did not attend was the one that honored Medal of Honor recipients.  I told him to get ready for 8 years of that.  Then maybe 8 more years from Hillary.
This will likely be the last newsletter I’ll publish from here in Florida.  I should be inheriting a great deal of money shortly and will retire in Asheville, NC.  I’ll continue my tasks as secretary of the 6th.  I will still have all of my sources of data that I use to put out a newsletter.

Donald Duck and Daisy Duck were spending the night together in a hotel room and Donald wanted to have sex with Daisy.  The first thing Daisy asked was, ‘Do you have a condom?’  Donald frowned and said, ‘No.’ Daisy told Donald that if he didn’t get a condom, they could not have sex.  ‘Maybe they sell them at the front desk,’ she suggested.  So, Donald went down to the lobby and asked the hotel clerk if they had condoms.  ‘Yes, we do,’ the clerk said and pulled one out from under the counter and gave it to Donald.  The clerk asked, ‘Would you like me to put it on your bill?’  ‘No!’ Donald quacked, ‘What kind of pervert do you think I am?’

The rest of the world cannot understand how after bitter election campaigns, American politicians can return to reality.  For instance, Sarah Palin has invited to her great state of Alaska the men who defeated her, Barack Obama and Joe Biden.  She has provided a moose hunting trip for their enjoyment and has hired two other prominent men to assist them.  Dick Cheney will instruct them in safe gun handling and Ted Kennedy will drive them back to their cabins in the evening.  What a gal, that Sarah is such a sport and thinks of everything.

Nine Words Women Use

1.   Fine:  This is the word women use to end an argument when they are right and you need to shut up.
2.   Five Minutes:  If she is getting dressed, this means a half an hour.  Five minutes is only five minutes if you have just been given five more minutes to watch the game before helping around the house.
3.   Nothing:  This is the calm before the storm.  This means some-thing, and you should be on your toes.  Arguments that begin with nothing usually end in fine.
4.   Go Ahead:  This is a dare, not permission.  Don’t do it!
5.   Loud Sigh:  This is actually a word, but is a non-verbal statement often misunderstood by men.  A loud sigh means she thinks you are an idiot and woders why she is wasting her time standing here and arguing with you about nothing.  (Refer back to #3 for the meaning of nothing.)
6.   That’s Okay:  This is one of the most dangerous statements a woman can make to a man.  That’s okay means she wants to think long and hard before deciding how and when you will pay for your mistake.
7.   Thanks:  A woman is thanking you, do not question or faint.
Just say you’re welcome.  (I want to add in a clause here - This is true, unless she says ‘Thanks a lot.’ - that is pure sarcasm and she is not thanking you at all.  Do not say ‘you’re welcome’; that will bring on a ‘whatever’).
8.   Whatever:  Is a woman’s way of saying screw you!
9.   Don’t worry about it, I got it:  Another dangerous statement, meaning this is something that a woman has told a man to do several times, but is now doing it herself.  This will later result in a man asking ‘What’s wrong?’  For the woman’s response refer to #3.

Two women were playing golf.  One teed off and watched in horror as her ball headed directly toward a foursome of men playing the next hole.  The ball hit one of the men.  He immediately clasped his hands together at his groin, fell to the ground and proceeded to roll around in agony.  The woman rushed down to the man, and immediately began to apologize.  ‘Please allow me to help.  I’m a Physical Therapist and I know I could relieve your pain if you’d allow me,’ she told him.  ‘Oh, no, I’ll be alright.  I’ll be fine in a few minutes,’ the man replied.  He was in obvious agony, lying in the fetal position, still clasping his hands to his groin.  At her persistence, however, he finally allowed her to help.  She gently took his hands away and laid them to the side, loosened his pants and put her hands inside.  She administered tender and artful massage for several long moments and asked, ‘How does that feel?’  He replied, ‘It feels great, but I still think my thumb’s broken.’
The Ploesti Raid in 1943 dealt a staggering blow to Hitler’s war machine by knocking out his vast oil fields in Rumania.  I went looking for the citations of the 5 men awarded the Medal of Honor for that raid.  I only found two.  The other three might have been posthumous.  The following is one of those citations.

Leon W. Johnson - Medal of Honor

Rank and organization: Colonel, U. S. Army Air Corps, 44th Bomber Group, 9th Air Force.  Place and date: Ploesti Raid, Rumania, 1 August 1943.  Entered service at: Moline, Kansas.  Born 13 September 1904, Columbia, Mo.  G. O. No.: 54, 7 September 1943.  Citation: For conspicuous gallantry in action and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty on 1 August 1943.  Col. Johnson, as commanding officer of a heavy bombardment group, led the formation of the aircraft of his organization constituting the fourth element of the mass low-level bombing attack of the 9th U. S. Air Force against the vitally important enemy target of the Ploesti oil refineries.  While proceeding to the target on this 2,400 mile flight, his element became separated from the leading elements of the mass formation in maintaining the formation of the unit while avoid-ing dangerous cumulous cloud conditions encountered over mountainous territory.  Though temporarily lost, he re-established contact with the third element and continued on the mission with this reduced force to the prearranged point of attack, where it was discovered that the target assigned to Col. Johnson’s group had been attacked and damaged by a pre-ceding element.  Though having lost the element of surprise upon which the safety and success of such a daring form of mission in heavy bombardment aircraft so strongly depended, Col. Johnson elected to carry out his planned low-level attack despite the thoroughly alerted defenses, the destructive antiaircraft fire, enemy fighter airplanes, the imminent danger of exploding delayed action bombs from the previous element, of oil fires and explosions, and of intense smoke obscuring the target.  By his gallant courage, brilliant leadership, and superior flying skill, Col. Johnson so led his formation as to destroy totally the important refining plants and installations which were the object of his mission.  Col. Johnson’s personal contribution to the success of this historic raid, and the conspicuous gallantry in action, and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty demonstrated by him on this occasion constitute such deeds of valor and distinguished service as have during our Nation’s history formed the finest traditions of our Armed Forces.

James Elma Swett - Medal of Honor

Rank and organization:  First Lieutenant, U. S. Marine Corps Reserve, Marine Fighting Squadron 221, with Marine Aircraft Group 12, 1st Marine Aircraft Wing.  Place and date:  Solomon Islands area, 7 April 1943.  Entered service at: California.  Born: 15 June 1920, Seattle, Wash.  Other Navy award:
Distinguished Flying Cross with one Gold Star.  Citation:
For extraordinary heroism and personal valor above and beyond the call of duty, as division leader of Marine Fighting Squadron 221 with Marine Aircraft Group 12, 1st Marine Air-craft Wing, in action against enemy Japanese aerial forces in the Solomon Islands area, 7 April 1943.  In a daring flight to intercept a wave of of 150 Japanese planes, 1st Lt. Swett unhesitatingly hurled his 4-plane division against a formation of 15 enemy bombers and personally exploded 3 hostile planes in midair with accurate and deadly fire during his dive.  Al-though separated from his division while clearing the heavy concentration of antiaircraft fire, he boldly attacked 6 enemy bombers, engaged the first 4 in turn and, unaided, shot down all in flames.  Exhausting his ammunition as he closed the fifth Japanese bomber, he relentlessly drove his attack against terrific opposition which partially disabled his engine, shattered the windscreen and slashed his face.  In spite of this, he brought his battered plane down with skillful precision in the water off Tulagi without further injury.  The superb airmanship and tenacious fighting spirit which enabled 1st Lt. Swett to destroy 7 enemy bombers in a single flight were in keeping with the highest traditions of the U. S.  Naval Service..

 

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